Life insurance as analogous to Covenant theology

Conclusion

The Scriptures repeatedly command heads of households to practice stewardship of monetary assets and prepare an inheritance for our children, such as, (Proverbs 20:21) “An inheritance gained hastily in the beginning will not be blessed in the end,” and (Isaiah 38:1) “Thus says the LORD: Set your house in order, for your shall die …” and perhaps the most heavy-handed instruction of all, (I Timothy 5:8) “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”

As a student of Scripture, an adherent of the Reformed tradition, and also a life insurance agent, I’m profoundly interested in Covenant theology. I’ve been wanting to write this study for months, but I didn’t make the time for it. Part of the problem was just procrastination.

Life insurance is an object of procrastination for many of us. The law doesn’t require it, as it requires other types of insurance, so it’s not attended as a priority. But if we insure our cars, our homes, our health and capacity to work, and even our smartphones, why don’t we insure our ability to provide for our families? People procrastinate securing this protection often until it’s too late, something happens, and the insurance is needed. On top of the grief of losing a loved one, the family has to scramble to come up with the financial means to take care of someone’s final disposition, and then spends the next several years adjusting and struggling to replace the lost income of the family member. Sometimes a family has to foreclose on a home, downsize, or declare bankruptcy to absolve themselves of debt to creditors. Unless a family can self-insure, then an arrangement with an entity that has the assets to replace years of income is the only way to manage the risk of such catastrophic loss.

A life insurance company enters into contract with a person knowing that someday, he’s going to die. God initiates covenant with a person also knowing that someday, he’s going to die. Death is inevitable.

Yet, who would see the value in protecting his temporal estate, but not recognize the infinitely more pressing need to safeguard his eternal estate?